The Glass is Too Big - Home

I mentioned NaNoWriMo (henceforth no longer properly capitalized because it's a pain) back in January, along with the 50 books in a year challenge. While I've read quite a few books this year, as much of my reading is online, it doesn't distill to a distinct book count easily and I can't really say how "much" I've read.

Nanowrimo, on the other hand, is specifically quantifiable and has nice constraints. 50,000 words of novel during November. I'm definitely going to take a run at it. I've mentioned this to a few people over the last few weeks and been asked, "Why?". That's given me a reason to think about it and I think I can explain it this way.

Writing a novel in a month is, to a writer or an aspiring writer, similar to running a marathon. The vast majority of the point is just to have accomplished it. Marathons are running from point A to point B, not to get to work, the store or other transportation-related running. Rather, just to have covered the distance at all. Most marathon runners will never win, most will never recoup their entry fees and many will not even finish. It's grueling, unpleasant work (just look at the faces on televised marathons) that rewards the participant beyond those detractions (look at the grins on the people who have finished and recovered).

After graduating from college and moving on to a more geeky lifestyle, I mostly left the writing of fiction and poetry behind. My writing marathon skills are rusty, but just the thought of meeting a word count every day brings "Introduction to Fiction Writing" and daily word counts back in a flash. That 9 weeks resulted in more writing (and better writing) than at any other time for me.

I look forward to that experience and we'll see whether I collapse half-way through or not. Who knows, it might not even suck.

writing, nanowrimo, marathon, running

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